This invention relates to an installation for the preparation of bread and/or pastry products of the type which comprises, in sequence, a plurality of operating stations among which at least one is intended for the preparing and one for the baking of the products, and in addition a conveyor for carrying the products and moving them through the aforesaid plurality of operating stations.
The invention relates principally to installations with small dimensions for the preparation of bread and pastry products of various sizes and forms such as, for example those known internationally by the name of croissant, madeleines, sponge cakes, rolls, donuts and the like.
The installation further makes possible the preparation of the aforesaid products with a filling of jam, cream, chocolate and the like.
With the installation to which this invention refers, the products may be packed or arranged inside paper or plastic containers, in accordance with requirements.
The installation is of the type in which the aforesaid products may obtained starting from a dough prepared on the spot or else, preferably, from a dough prepared at source, frozen and later defrosted at room temperature prior to introduction thereof into the installation.
As is known, the preparation of the products indicated in the foregoing on an industrial scale requires appropriate machinery, the dimensions of which generally are substantial. Normally, the dough is disposed at the starting point of the installation and the final product is removed at the end of a production line which includes various processes, among which are baking and cooling. This latter process becomes particularly necessary if the product is not going to be consumed promptly, but rather is going-to be wrapped or packed.
Furthermore, the manufacturing of this type of product depends on the method of baking and cooling, and on the time taken for implementation thereof, which are specific to each type of product and which vary from product to product.
For example, the product known by the name of madeleines requires that its baking be started in correlation with the base, to be extended later to the upper part; this accordingly requires that, at the outset of the baking process, most of the heat be directed toward the base, while at the end it should be directed toward the upper part.
Moreover, the baking time for the part near the base is not the same as for the upper part.
Consequently, it may be concluded that the duration and intensity of the baking operation vary in terms of the product which is to be processed in the installation.
As a result of the operating requirement indicated above, the known technique provides for the preparation of the products in question in linear installations where the parameters and the method of baking and cooling may be fully controlled.
This nonetheless has the drawback that it requires machines with large dimensions and particularly long installations with the resulting need for large spaces for the setting up thereof.
Furthermore, given that the cooling time for an oven-baked product is approximately 1.5 times the baking time, when the installation also is to provide the cooling phase so that the product may be packed, the length of the production installation as a whole takes on really large linear dimensions.
The purpose of this invention is to resolve the problems associated with the installations for production of bread and pastry products indicated above, proposing an installation provided with the features of the known installations, but with reduced dimensions with the aim of affording the following additional advantages:
a) the possibility of transport of the component machines by means of motor vehicles or container vessels;
b) the possibility of setting up the installation in a reduced space, for example also in correlation with the points of sale of the products themselves, for example inside a bakery or pastry shop;
c) the possibility of preparing different types of products, whether bread or pastry, in the same installation, also simultaneously;
d) the possibility of preparing products of an industrial type as well as a small-scale type in the same installation, the products of a small-scale type being those which leave the installation and are sold directly and immediately to the consumer in the store, and those of an industrial type being the ones subjected to the cooling process so as to be packaged in containers made of paper or suitable synthetic material, for example polypropylene, for their preservation and subsequent sale.
The purposes have been achieved by means of an installation of the type specified in the foregoing, and it is characterized in accordance with claim 1 which is to follow.